WASHINGTON: The House of Representatives beat back a bipartisan effort to prod Egypt to strengthen its commitment to democracy and improve its human rights record.
On a 225-198 vote, the House rejected a proposal Thursday that would have cut $100 million from the $1.7 billion in aid slated for Egypt in a $21.3 billion foreign aid bill.
The House was expected to approve the package overwhelmingly on Friday. It is $2.4 billion less than what President George W. Bush requested for the budget year that begins Oct. 1. The Senate has not yet completed its version of the bill.
Overall, the House measure would provide $2.4 billion in aid for Israel, $2 billion for the administration s hallmark program designed to reward developing nations for a commitment to democracy and $522 million to promote stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq.
The measure also includes $3.4 billion the president requested to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria throughout the world and $450 million he wanted for aid to Sudan, including $138 million for its embattled Darfur region.
Reps. David Obey of Wisconsin, top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, and Republican Henry Hyde and Democrat Tom Lantos, chairman and the senior opposition member of the House International Relations Committee, wanted to add another $50 million for each of those two initiatives and send Egypt a message by cutting $100 million from its aid package.
The United States calls Egypt an important ally in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, lawmakers and administration officials alike have expressed unease about Egypt s human rights record and demanded greater democracy in that Arab nation. They have criticized the prosecution of Ayman Nour, an opposition leader in Egypt, who is serving a five-year prison term on charges widely regarded as trumped up.
Supporters of the amendment said Egypt has spurned calls for human rights and democracy improvements.
We are fed up, Lantos said.
But opponents said it would have gone to far by unfairly punishing an important ally.
The one friend we have in that region is Egypt, Rep. Roger Wicker said.
Rep. Jim Kolbe, Republican chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee, said Egypt should strive toward greater freedoms, but the amendment would be the wrong way to help achieve that goal. Pressuring Egypt to move faster toward democracy by withholding aid, he said, could push the country away from the United States.
